Slide rail assembly

ABSTRACT

A slide rail assembly includes a first rail and a second rail. The first rail includes a passage. The second rail is accommodated in the passage of the first rail. The second rail includes a first wall, a second wall and a longitudinal wall connected between the first wall and the second wall. The first wall has an extension portion extending beyond the second wall a predetermined distance. Wherein, the extension portion of the first wall of the second rail is configured to be operatively placed into the passage of the first rail and supported by the first rail.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a slide rail assembly, and moreparticularly, to a slide rail assembly having a second rail capable ofbeing quickly mounted to a first rail.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Generally, in a rack system, a carried object can be mounted to a rackby a support rail. U.S. Pat. No. 8,780,565 B2 discloses a rack system.As shown in FIG. 1 of the patent, an information handling system (10) isconfigured to be mounted to an inner rail member (22). Wherein, theinner rail member (22) can be inserted into an intermediate rail member(20) in order to be mounted to a slide rail subassembly (18) on a rack(12). Wherein, FIG. 3 of the patent further shows the intermediate railmember (20) having an upper portion (32) and a lower portion (30). Thelower portion (30) has a resting surface (34) extending beyond the upperportion (32) a predetermined distance, such that the inner rail member(22) can rest on the resting surface (34) of the intermediate railmember (20) in order to be further mounted to the intermediate railmember (20). However, for different requirement and product diversity,slide rail assemblies with different assembly methods can be provided tobring more options to the market.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a slide rail assembly having a secondrail capable of being quickly mounted to a first rail.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a slide railassembly comprises a first rail and a second rail. The first railcomprises a first wall, a second wall and a longitudinal wall connectedbetween the first wall and the second wall. A passage is defined by thefirst wall, the second wall and the longitudinal wall. The passage has afirst height. The second rail is movable relative to the first rail. Thesecond rail comprises a main body part and an extension part. The mainbody part has a second height, and an end of the extension part has athird height. Wherein, the first height of the passage of the first railis greater than the second height of the main body part of the secondrail, and the second height of the main body part of the second rail isgreater than the third height of the end of the extension part. Wherein,the extension part is configured to be operatively placed into thepassage of the first rail and supported by the first wall of the firstrail, in order to allow the main body part of the second rail to enterthe passage of the first rail thereafter.

According to the above embodiment, the main body part of the second railcomprises a first wall, a second wall and a longitudinal wall connectedbetween the first wall and the second wall. The first wall of the secondrail extends beyond the second wall of the second rail a predetermineddistance along with the extension part.

Preferably, the extension part comprises a guiding surface locatedbetween the first wall and the second wall of the second rail.

Preferably, the guiding surface is an inclined surface.

According to the above embodiment, the slide rail assembly furthercomprises a first supporting member and a second supporting memberrespectively arranged on the first wall and the second wall within thepassage of the first rail and configured to guide the second rail.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a slide railassembly is configured to mount a carried object to a rack. The sliderail assembly comprises a support rail, a first rail and a second rail.The support rail is configured to be mounted to the rack. The first railis movable relative to the support rail. The first rail comprises apassage having a first height. The second rail is mounted into thepassage of the first rail and configured to carry the carried object.The second rail comprises a main body part and an extension part. Themain body part has a second height. An end of the extension part has athird height. Wherein, the first height of the passage of the first railis greater than the second height of the main body part of the secondrail, and the second height of the main body part of the second rail isgreater than the third height of the end of the extension part.

Preferably, the first rail comprises a first wall, a second wall and alongitudinal wall connected between the first wall and the second wall.The passage is defined by the first wall, the second wall and thelongitudinal wall.

Preferably, the main body part of the second rail comprises a firstwall, a second wall and a longitudinal wall connected between the firstwall and the second wall. The first wall of the second rail extendsbeyond the second wall of the second rail a predetermined distance alongwith the extension part.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a slide railassembly comprises a first rail and a second rail. The first railcomprises a passage. The second rail comprises a first wall, a secondwall and a longitudinal wall connected between the first wall and thesecond wall. The first wall has an extension portion extending beyondthe second wall a predetermined distance. Wherein, the extension portionof the first wall of the second rail is configured to be operativelyplaced into the passage of the first rail and supported by the firstrail, in order to allow the second rail to be mounted into the passageof the first rail thereafter.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing slide rail assemblies configured to mount acarried object to a rack according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the slide rail assembly according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the slide rail assembly according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a second rail of the slide rail assemblybeing going to be mounted to a first rail according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an extension part of the second rail of theslide rail assembly entering into a passage of the first rail accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a main body part of the second rail of theslide rail assembly entering into the passage of the first railaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the extension part of the second rail of theslide rail assembly being supported by the first rail according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the second rail of the slide rail assemblyentering into the passage of the first rail through guiding of a guidingsurface of the extension part according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a slide rail assembly according to anotherembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a carried object 10 mounted to a rack 14through a pair of slide rail assemblies 12 according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. Specifically, the carried object 10 can be anelectronic device or a chassis.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, each of the slide rail assemblies 12comprises a support rail 16, a first rail 18 and a second rail 20.Wherein, the support rail 16 is mounted between a first post 22 a and asecond post 22 b of the rack 14. The second rail 20 is configured tocarry the carried object 10. The first rail 18 and the second rail 20are movable relative to the support rail 16, such as being moved toswitch from a retracted state to an extending state, so as to allow thecarried object 10 to be moved from the inside of the rack 14 to theoutside of the rack 14.

As shown in FIG. 3, the support rail 16 comprises a supporting passage24 configured to accommodate the first rail 18. The first rail 18comprises a passage 26. Specifically, the first rail 18 comprises afirst wall 28 a, a second wall 28 b and a longitudinal wall 30 connectedbetween the first wall 28 a and the second wall 28 b. The passage 26 isdefined by the first wall 28 a, the second wall 28 b and thelongitudinal wall 30, and configured to accommodate the second rail 20.

The second rail 20 comprises a main body part 32 and an extension part34. Specifically, the main body part 32 of the second rail 20 comprisesa first wall 36 a, a second wall 36 b and a longitudinal wall 38connected between the first wall 36 a and the second wall 36 b.

As shown in FIG. 4, the first rail 18 is movably mounted to the supportrail 16. The passage 26 of the first rail 18 has a first height H1. Themain body part 32 of the second rail 20 has a second height H2. An endof the extension part 34 has a third height H3. Wherein, the firstheight H1 of the passage 26 of the first rail 18 is greater than thesecond height H2 of the main body part 32 of the second rail 20. Thesecond height H2 of the main body part 32 of the second rail 20 isgreater than the third height H3 of the end of the extension part 34.The first wall 36 a of the second rail 20 extends beyond the second wall36 b of the second rail 20 a predetermined distance L along with theextension part 34. In other words, the first wall 36 a of the secondrail 20 is longer than the second wall 36 b of the second rail 20.

As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, during a mounting process, a user canmount the second rail 20 into the passage 26 of the first rail 18 alonga direction D. In such process, the extension part 34 is configured tobe operatively placed into the passage 26 of the first rail 18 andsupported by the first wall 28 a of the first rail 18. Therefore, thesecond rail 20 can be rapidly aligned to the passage 26 of the firstrail 18, in order to facilitate mounting the second rail 20 into thepassage 26 of the first rail 18. Preferably, the slide rail assembly 12further comprises a first supporting member 40 and a second supportingmember 42 respectively arranged on the first wall 28 a and the secondwall 28 b within the passage 26 of the first rail 18. The firstsupporting member 40 and the second supporting member 42 are configuredto guide or support the second rail 20. In the present embodiment, theextension part 34 of the second rail 20 can be supported by the firstsupporting member 40 on the first wall 28 a of the first rail 18.

As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, when the second rail 20 is further movedrelative to the first rail 18 along the direction D, the main body part32 of the second rail 20 enters into the passage 26 of the first rail18. Wherein, when the main body part 32 of the second rail 20 entersinto the passage 26 of the first rail 18, the first wall 36 a and thesecond wall 36 b of the main body part 32 of the second rail 20respectively correspond to the first wall 28 a and the second wall 28 bof the first rail 18.

As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the extension part 34 of the second rail20 further comprises a guiding surface 44 located between the first wall36 a and the second wall 36 b of the second rail 20. The guiding surface44 can be an inclined surface or a curved surface. In the process ofmounting the second rail 20 into the passage 26 of the first rail 18, ifthe second rail 20 is tilted relative to the first rail 18, the secondrail 20 can be guided by the guiding surface 44 to enter the passage 26of the first rail 18.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the second rail 200. Adifference between the present embodiment and the previous embodiment isthat the second rail 200 has an L shaped end portion. For example, theextension part 202 evenly extends beyond the second wall 206 of thesecond rail 200 a predetermined distance as well as the first wall 204of the second rail 200, such that the first wall 204 of the second rail200 is longer than the second wall 206 of the second rail 200.Therefore, during a mounting process, the second rail 200 can besupported by the first wall 210 of the first rail 208 through theextension part 202.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the abovedisclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and boundsof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A slide rail assembly, comprising: a first railcomprising a first wall, a second wall and a longitudinal wall connectedbetween the first wall and the second wall, a passage being defined bythe first wall, the second wall and the longitudinal wall, the passagehaving a first height; and a second rail movable relative to the firstrail, the second rail comprising a main body part and an extension part,the main body part having a second height, an end of the extension parthaving a third height; wherein the first height of the passage of thefirst rail is greater than the second height of the main body part ofthe second rail, and the second height of the main body part of thesecond rail is greater than the third height of the end of the extensionpart; wherein the extension part is configured to be operatively placedinto the passage of the first rail and supported by the first wall ofthe first rail, in order to allow the main body part of the second railto enter the passage of the first rail thereafter.
 2. The slide railassembly of claim 1, wherein the main body part of the second railcomprises a first wall, a second wall and a longitudinal wall connectedbetween the first wall and the second wall, and the first wall of thesecond rail extends beyond the second wall of the second rail apredetermined distance along with the extension part.
 3. The slide railassembly of claim 2, wherein the extension part comprises a guidingsurface located between the first wall and the second wall of the secondrail.
 4. The slide rail assembly of claim 3, wherein the guiding surfaceis an inclined surface.
 5. The slide rail assembly of claim 1 furthercomprising a first supporting member arranged on the first wall withinthe passage of the first rail and configured to guide the second rail.6. The slide rail assembly of claim 5 further comprising a secondsupporting member arranged on the second wall within the passage of thefirst rail and configured to guide the second rail.
 7. A slide railassembly, configured to mount a carried object to a rack, the slide railassembly comprising: a support rail configured to be mounted to therack; a first rail movable relative to the support rail, the first railcomprising a passage having a first height; and a second rail mountedinto the passage of the first rail, the second rail configured to carrythe carried object, the second rail comprising a main body part and anextension part, the main body part having a second height, an end of theextension part having a third height; wherein the first height of thepassage of the first rail is greater than the second height of the mainbody part of the second rail, and the second height of the main bodypart of the second rail is greater than the third height of the end ofthe extension part.
 8. The slide rail assembly of claim 7, wherein thefirst rail comprises a first wall, a second wall and a longitudinal wallconnected between the first wall and the second wall, and the passage isdefined by the first wall, the second wall and the longitudinal wall. 9.The slide rail assembly of claim 7, wherein the main body part of thesecond rail comprises a first wall, a second wall and a longitudinalwall connected between the first wall and the second wall, and the firstwall of the second rail extends beyond the second wall of the secondrail a predetermined distance along with the extension part.
 10. A sliderail assembly, comprising: a first rail comprising a passage; and asecond rail comprising first wall, a second wall and a longitudinal wallconnected between the first wall and the second wall, the first wallhaving an extension portion extending beyond the second wall apredetermined distance; wherein the extension portion of the first wallof the second rail is configured to be operatively placed into thepassage of the first rail and supported by the first rail, in order toallow the second rail to be mounted into the passage of the first railthereafter.